I meet young people alot, for example by training them in soccer, and one thing I`ve come across alot recently is kids around the age of 12 that is constantly babysitting their siblings.
They miss out on the spearetime with friends, or any sport they wannt to participate in.
There is seldom only one sibling to look after but atleast 2-3.

I know you are now sitting there thinking so what? Of course they should help their parents out?
And yes, you are right - They should.
But maybe not every single night? And is it a good thing they have to clean all of their house, cook for the family aswell?
And here is something else I`ve noticed, this happends while the parents are at home! Yeah you heard me the parents are at home but often takes no responsibility for the smaller kids, instead the older sibling has turned into a non-paid nanny.
The Kids doing this dont see it as a bad thing, they want to help their parents out at any cost, and they love their parents so its not there I see the problem.
The parents are tired from a long day at work, or whatever they have been doing, I understand that aswell.

My problem is; if we leave kids around that age to raise younger children, who is the adult one? Who will teach the younger ones right from wrong?
We can easily find studies that tells us that a 12 year old has not finished developing his/hers own personality or even the brain for that sake.
Yet we leave the ones we love the most alone in a situation that in the long run easily can end in disaster.

Some of you might say now "But hey, cut them some slack, they cant do it any other way they need to support their families".
Oh yes I agree they do need to make a living but how about the goverments? This is ok with them aswell at the same time they wonder why kids brings guns to school?
I remember being 12 years old, Karate Kid was sooo great.. Fighting movies was the bomb! Everyone wanted to be Bruce Lee.. we all loved him!

If you know think of a 12 year old today.. What does he/She like to watch? And since he or she is the one raising his/hers siblings.. What will they learn?
A 12 year old definatly knows some things, for example that the stronger, meaner one often gets what he or she wants in life at the moment. So how will they raise their siblings? They spend the most amount of awake-time with the younger ones and also are often their heroes..

Take a minute - Think about it!